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AN 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



NEW YORK STATE 



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AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE 142d ANNIVERSARY 
OF THE BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON, 



Rev. MARi:f^U8 WILLETT 



MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 



1874. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 

MDCCCLXXIV. 




El w?. 



E. WELLS SACKETT & BSO., 

Stationers ani Printers, 

55 & 58 William St.— Mew 7ork. 



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NEW YORK STATE 
SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI, 

July 4. 1873-74. 



President, Hon. HAMILTON FISH, LL.D. 

Vice-President, WILLIAM S. POPHAM. 

Secretary, Rev. MARINUS WILLETT. 

Treasurer (Acting), JOHN W. GREATON. 

Assistant Treasurer (Acting) HERBERT GRAY TORREY. 

Chaplain, Rev. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D. D. 

Physician ALEXANDER CLINTON, M. D. 



Standing Committee. 



PIERRE VAN GORTLANDT, JOHN W. GREATON, 

WILLIAM STUART, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Jr. 

WICKHAM'«OFFMAN, THOMAS W. CHRYSTIE, 

WILLIAM H, CROSBY, JOHN SCHUYLER. 



Delegates to the General Society. 

Hon. HAMILTON FISH, LL.D. Rev. MARINUS WILLETT, 

WILLIAM S. POPHAM, JOHN W. GREATON. 



Extract from the Minutes of a Meeting of the Standing 
Committee of the New Yorh State Society of the 
Cinchmati, held at the New Yorh Society Lih^ary, 
November 22^, 1873. 

On a motion of the Eev. Dr. Hutton Messrs. John W. 
Gkeaton, WrLLiAM H. Okosby and John Schuylee were ap- 
pointed a Committee to make arrangements for tlie celebra- 
tion of the one hundred and forty-second anniversary of 
the birthday of Washington. 

In pursuance of their ai^pointment, the Committee invited 
the Rev, Makinus Willett to deliver an address on that 



Extracts from the Minutes of a m-eeting of the New 
Yorh State Society of the Cincinnati, held at 
Delmonicd' s on Monday evening, February 2Sd, 
1874. 

On motion of Mr. William H. Ckosby it was unanimously 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Society be tendered to 
Rev. Mr. Willett for his interesting and instructive address 
delivered this evening, and that the Committee of Arrange- 
ments be directed to have the same printed and copies there- 
of distributed to the members. 



ADDRESS. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Cincinnati : 

We are assembled to celebrate the Birthday 
of the great Leader of the American armies in 
the struggle which terminated in our National 
Independence. 

It seems appropriate to this occasion to call 
to remembrance the grandeur of the Principles 
then, for the first time in the history of the world, 
incorporated into the Government of a' People. 

I propose, therefore, as the subject of this Ad- 
dress, briefly to vindicate the Institution of this 
Society, to consider its Intention and examine 
its Principles, and to inquire what these Principles 
demand of us in the present condition of affairs ; 
or, 

The Mission of the Society, its relations and 
obligations to the country in our generation. 

It is well known that this Society has seen its 
dark days ; that men of radical and extreme 



8 THE MISSION OF THE. CINCINNATI. 

opinions professed to see in it an attempt to 
establish an Order of Nobility, and looked upon 
it as a foe to Republican Institutions, though its 
founders were men who had pledged everything 
to the overthrow of monarchy, and the establish- 
ment of the Republic. 

We find, upon our own records, opposition to the 
basis 0^ Primogeniture as the condition of member- 
ship, in that it accorded to " birth," what was due 
onl}^ to "merit," whereas meritorious service to 
the State, or indeed any particular merit, could 
hardly be a possible standard of admission at the 
early age of twent3'-one years ; besides which 
the Society has full power to judge of the worthi- 
ness of those who may be proposed as members. 

It has even been asserted in the public prints 
that Washington himself was opposed to the 
Society, notwithstanding the falsity of such an 
assertion had been fully exposed by our honored 
President from the records of the General So- 
ciety, and notwithstanding the fact that the 
Commander-in-Chief of the American armies 
was its President-General until the day of his 
death, and the additional fact, that the diplomas 
of the original members of the Cincinnati bear 
his signature as President. 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 9 

But, notwithstanding the opposition which it 
encountered, and the struggles through which it has 
passed, it has received the full endorsement and 
hearty sympathy of some of the noblest and most 
patriotic citizens of our country, and is cherished 
to day in the hearts of its members, in the differ- 
ent States of our Union, with an enthusiasm and 
devotion, which bid fair to increase rather than 
diminish with time. 

This fact alone is an assurance that this Society 
embodies Principles, which have their source in 
the highest and holiest emotions of our nature. 

Its Purpose may be briefly stated: "It was 
founded by the Officers of the American Army at 
the period of its dissolution" (a fact of itself 
sufficient to command the respect of the world), 
"to commemorate that great event which gave 
Independence to North America." 

An Institution of Remembrance is one of the 
oldest and most sacred ideas of human history. 

Every seventh day we commemorate the 
creation of the world, and acknowledge God as 
its Founder, at the express command of the 
Creator Himself. 

Among the Jews, days commemorative of grand 
events in their history were numerous and of 



10 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

sacred obligation and observance, and in the last 
and perfected establishment of the Kingdom of 
Grod among men, to keep in mind the fundamental 
principle of that Kingdom, God's great love to 
man in the life and death of His Son, this 
necessity of our human nature is recognized, by 
the establishment of a simple but sublime ordi- 
nance, by which His life of humiliation and self- 
sacrifice, and His death of anguish and shame, 
might be kept in remembrance for all time, with 
the injunction, "Do this, as oft as ye do it, in 
Remembrance of Me." 

It is then in obedience to a principle of human 
nature, recognized by the very highest authority 
as necessary and indispensable, and rendered 
sacred by antiquity as well as by Divine ordain- 
ing, that our Fathers established this Society "to 
endure as long as they shall endure, or any of 
their eldest male posterity, and in failure thereof, 
the collateral branches, to commemorate that 
great event which gave Independence to North 
America." 

No Society can have strength and stability, 
can call forth enthusiasm and devotion, unless 
it is founded on Principles which ^appeal to the 
profoundest emotions of the human soul, and. 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 11 

surely, in this respect the wisdom of its Founders 
is vindicated. 

What a record of savage cruelty, of endurance 
under extreme sufferings, of unconquerable hero- 
ism, of self-sacrifice and supreme devotion to the 
noblest and highest interests of humanity is that, 
which we are thus enjoined to commemorate ! 

The discovery of this continent was a wonder- 
ful event in the history of the earth, and was fitly 
consecrated by acts of Divine worship as the feet 
of Columbus and his companions touched the shores 
of this Western world. It was the revelation — 
to what had up to that time constituted the known 
world — of that grand theatre on which, as appears 
to us, the development of the race is to be com- 
pleted, and the final acts of this world's history 
are to be performed. But the work of Columbus, 
grand as it was, was but the rolling up of the 
curtain — the finger post, directing those floods of 
emigration which have been rolling on from that 
day to this — the marshalling of the forces of the 
future. The great event, that which gave shape and 
form, direction and an inspiring power to this 
grand accumulation of forces, was that which gave 
Independence to North America. 



12 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

It has always seemed to me, whether conscious- 
ly or -unconsciously to themselves, that those 
words our fathers selected in the incorporation 
of this Society were 'prophetic — North America. 
It was their Principles, the cause for which 
they fought, which made them great. And 
the inspiration by which they incorporated into 
this Government the fundamental ideas of the 
Divine Government has, even in our day, caused 
those ideas to penetrate and pervade not only 
this continent, but has thrown into commotion 
and convulsion all the old kingdoms and na- 
tionalities of the continent of Europe. God's 
greatest, most precious gifts to men have been 
those purchased with the blood and anguish of the 
innocent and the good. So it was with the Gos- 
pel and its blessings of Eternal Life ; what an 
army of prophets and martyrs of all ages yielded 
up their lives that those gifts might be a sacred 
inheritance to men, until at last He came who 
should be the supremest example of this Fact ; so 
also, it was this very Principle in the foundation 
of our Government, which justified our fathers in 
styling it the Great event. The Principles for 
which they contended were Divine, and, like the 
Divine Founder, they laid down their lives to 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 13 

secure them as a birthright and inheritance for 
all men. 

Its intention was also " to inculcate the duty 
of laying down, in peace, arms assumed for pub- 
lic defense." 

It is natural to suppose this had reference to 
the well-known letter, circulated among the 
officers, counselling them not to lay down their 
arms until Congress had complied with their 
demands. The duty indicated was therefore 
plain — self-control, and the sacrifice of personal 
interest to the welfare of the countr}^, even 
though that sacrifice might involve, as it did, 
the necessary provision for their families. They 
were to rely upon the honor and patriotism of 
their fellow-citizens to supply these rewards of 
faithful service, and not on a usurpation of the 
authority and power, with which they had been 
clothed. It is a sad reflection that those claims 
have never been honored by the nation. 

Whether this Principle of our Society — the 
sacred dut}^ of recognizing the welfare of their 
country as superior to any private interests — has 
been religiously observed, might admit of a ques- 
tion, when we consider the apathy so widespread 
to her interests. I remember seeinar one of those 



14 THE MISSION OF THE .CINCINNATI. 

old Patriots shed tears as he spoke of his 
country — it is a rare sight to-day. And yet, it 
was not the least gratifjnng result of the late 
civil war, that the love ot our native land came 
forth pure and bright out of that fierce struggle, 
and promises to strike, broader and deeper 
than ever before, its roots in all parts of that 
land. 

Doubtless, this sacrifice of private interests to 
the public good, was one main idea of those who 
instituted this Society". 

They fully appreciated the grandeur of char- 
acter of that noble old Roman, who was found 
following the plough, when the statesmen of his 
country sought him, as the only one capable of 
leading their armies to victory, and clothed him 
with absolute power, and who, having achieved 
the salvation of his country, laid aside that power 
and gladly returned to his plough and the obscurity 
of domestic life, thus proving conclusively that 
no personal ambition, but solely the love of his 
country, was his ruling motive. 

The greatest need our nation has to-day is to 
have that example held up, in all its simplicity 
and grandeur, as the only motive of action in 
those who are clothed with authority and power 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 15 

for the welfare of the People, and not for private, 
personal and selfish ends. 

Noble and grand, indeed, is that man who can 
prove by his actions, as did the hero whose birth 
we celebrate to-day, that no selfish or personal 
motives are permitted to mingle with that pure 
and lofty devotion he owes to his country. 

On such a foundation as this, they proposed "to 
unite in acts of brotherl}^ affection and bonds of 
perpetual friendship the members constituting the 
same." A union perpetuating the "friendships 
formed amid the pressure of common dangers and 
hardships, cemented with blood and suftering," 
inspired by supreme devotion to the Principles 
represented in the Grovernment, and expressing 
itself in all the acts and conduct of life. 

Our Fathers, as well as the Principles personi- 
fied in them, were the results of ages of human 
experience ; such men were only possible under 
certain conditions ; they had been fitted for their 
task by a long and severe training of Providence. 
Not only the peculiar surroundings amid which 
they were born and nurtured, but the Principles 
which had been instilled into their Fathers, 
handed down through generations which had 
preceded them, made them what they were. 



16 THE MISSION OF THE .CINCINNATI. 

While this is a brief summary of the objects of 
the Founders of our Society, they have been still 
more explicit in regard to the Principles on which 
it is based, and in enumerating these, it will be at 
once apparent, that we are by no means fulfilling 
the design of its Founders in occupying a merely 
nominal place, or holding merely formal meetings 
for routine business or social enjoyment. 

They have put on record their purpose in the 
organization of this Society, and they have im- 
posed on us, their successors, the obligation to 
accomplish that purpose ; and that obligation we 
have voluntarily assumed. 

' ' The following Principles shall be immutable and 
form the basis of the Cincinnati : 'A71 incessant 
attention to preserve inviolate those exalted rights 
and liberties of human nature for which they have 
fought and bled, and without which the high rank 
of a Rational Being is a curse instead of a bless- 
ing.^ ^^ 

Here, then, we perceive that a living, active 
organization was intended, having as a duty and 
sacred obligation, devotion to the liberties they 
had purchased so dearly, and demanding from its 
members, in their fulfillment, incessant watchful- 
ness and activity. We may learn, then, in 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 17 

contemplating our mission, the means also by 
which we may be true to it. 

It seems hardly necessary to direct attention to 
the fact, that such a union as is here intended 
has nothing whatever to do with peculiarities of 
personal opinion and judgment, but with those 
broad, underlying Principles of human history in 
which all are united. 

How valuable is the history of human experi- 
ence — the knowledge which men have acquired so 
painfully by the bitter experiences of life — gen- 
eration after generation ascertaining what was 
false and pernicious in their sj^stems of govern- 
ment only by the awful suiferings they entailed 
on them and their descendants ! How valuable, and 
yet how lightly is it prized ; how sneeringly is it 
set aside by youthful folly, and how terrible is 
the penalty of suffering and wretchedness exacted 
of each succeeding generation for this willful 
neglect. 

All that is valuable in the history of past ages 
are the results of human experience, though we 
need, indeed, an infallible standard of truth with 
which to compare and determine those results. 

The peculiar feature of our Society is, that the 
men who established it were chosen by Divine 



18 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

Providence to incorporate into a human govern- 
ment the grand total of the results of the 
experiences of all ages and generations of men 
who had preceded them, for the benefit of the 
whole human race. 

It may not be inappropriate nor unprofitable, 
therefore, to examine as briefly as possible the 
Principles thus by them incorporated into a 
government, to take its place and exert its in- 
fluence among the nations of the earth, and 
manifest, by its fruits, the truth and eternal sta- 
bility of those Principles. 

Ages of misery and degradation alone made 
possible the government which our fathers be- 
queathed to us. No wonder they were brave, 
noble, unselfish men, since they themselves were 
spiritually begotten of the extremest tests which 
have ever been applied to the human soul. 

When we see with what exceeding difficulty, and 
against what almost insuperable obstacles other 
nations are struggling to attain the blessings 
achieved for us, we can comprehend to some 
extent the magnitude of the work we commemo- 
rate to day. I have said that this government, and 
the men who founded it, were the result of the ages 
of human experience of the nations which had pre- 



THE MISSION OP THE CINCINNATI. 19 

ceded them, interpreted b}^ the unerring standard 
of Divine Revelation— permit me to illustrate and 
substantiate this assertion. 

The Egyptian, the Babj^lonish and Asiatic, the 
G-reek and Roman civilizations had each devel- 
oped its peculiar power and demonstrated the 
extent and nature of the results which they were 
capable of accomplishing ; we can measure their 
influence in elevating or degrading, conservino- 
or corrupting the human race (and I think may 
trace what was elevating and purifying in them 
all to the influence, near or remote, powerful or 
faint, of the Divine Oracles of the Hebrew nation). 
But of their utter failure to effect a permanent 
moral purification and elevation of those nations, 
history speaks too clearly to be misunderstood. 

It was when every possible experiment in 
human government had been exhausted, when 
despotism the most absolute had been succeeded 
by a limited monarchy, when the grand and 
stern virtues of the Republic which succeeded 
these had been corrupted by the wealth and 
luxury which those virtues had accumulated, and, 
as a necessary consequence, tyranny followed 
with most frightful excesses, until it became 
evident that the difficulty lay in human nature 



20 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

itself, and patriotic men despaired of the future, 
then, in the utter hopelessness of all relief, the 
announcement was heralded to men, "The King- 
dom of Heaven is at hand ;" and He came who 
alone could shed light on the darkness and give 
hope to the despairing, and inaugurated a king- 
dom destined to become universal among men 
From that time Christianity becomes a more po- 
tent element in human history than had been the 
case with the Hebrew faith. 

The succeeding history of the continent of 
Europe, (for to this theatre, principally, was the 
struggle confined,) is the history of the conflict of 
those Christian Principles, thus implanted, with 
the old political, social, and religious errors em- 
bodied in government and in society. 

After desperate struggles, we perceive gradu- 
ally emerging from the smoke and agony and con- 
fusion of the battle, the grand Principles of 
Civil and Religious Libert}^ which, as succeeding 
history has proved, needed to be transplanted 
into an entirely new .and virgin soil, free from the 
noxious weeds of ancient custom, and false prin- 
ciples of government, and ignorant ideas, and 
prejudices, which centuries of error had petrified 
into human customs and laws. 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 21 

Such a country God had kept in reserve ; 
such a peoj)le he had been training for his pur- 
poses, and transplanted them, worn out with the 
rack of despotic power, and having every senti- 
ment of their souls aroused in opposition to every 
form of tyranny, to every one of the old exploded 
errors of human government. The glory of our 
country is that it is founded on Principles inher- 
ent in human nature, and so imperishable ; that is 
to say, the Principles of the Divine Government, 
which alone are perfectly adapted to our human 
nature. 

That idea of a human government which was 
founded on the Divine Right of Kings, and which 
remains in some force to this day, is a singular 
example of a historical error perpetuated through 
centuries, since the Scriptural account of the 
appointment of the first king of Israel unmistak- 
ably conveys the lesson that it was accorded to 
the willful determination of the people to be 
governed as were the heathens around them ; it 
was a concession to their low moral condition, 
and their request was granted in anger because 
they rejected God as their King ; and all the 
evils, the heavy burden of unnecessary expenses, 
the oppression of the People, the yoke of servi- 



22 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

tude for themselves and their children which have 
been the results of the system from that day to 
this, were clearly and forcibly set before them by 
the Divine command. 

Our Fathers, tanght by the experience of cen- 
turies, and by correct views of Revelation, re- 
turned to the ancient Divinely authorized system 
of government, calling no man Master but one, 
and no man Father but one in Heaven. 

Our honored Chaplain has proved in his ad- 
dress that, notwithstanding assertions to the con- 
trary, we are a Christian nation, and that because 
a most unmistakable determination is clearly 
seen in our Constitution to afford not one inch of 
ground on which to build a spiritual despotism, 
it does not follow that the Government itself is 
not founded on the essential ideas of Christianity. 

Those essential ideas are thus summed up by 
its Divine Founder: "Thou shalt love Grod with 
all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." And 
this is what is meant by self-government — not 
as so many ignorant people seem to suppose, the 
right to do what each one pleases, but a govern- 
ment by the people of themselves, through their 
representatives, under the supreme authority of 
God. 



k 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 23 

Self-governiiient, in the individual, implies the 
highest type of manhood, and, in a nation, it is 
possible only where the people composing it have 
attained to this high elevation, and can be per- 
manent only where, as individuals and as a na- 
tion, they are controlled by "the Principles of 
Divine Revelation; for self-government means 
a willing allegiance to the immutable Principles 
of Right, Justice, and Truth ; in other words, to 
the eternal perfections of God. 

In this idea of self-government is plainly in- 
cluded the defense of the rights and interests of 
the weak, the obscure, and the helpless of the 
community, against the encroachments and the 
tyranny of wealth or political demagogues, of 
power of any sort aimed against the rights and 
liberties of the people. 

Our Constitution not only confers but ensures 
and defends Equal Rights to all, and implies all 
that is necessary to effect that purpose. The 
history of our day convinces us of the importance 
of keeping in mind and enforcing this purpose of 
our Grovernment, which is essential to its ex- 
istence. 

Nothing will draw down the Divine displeasure 
upon us, nothing sap the foundations of our insti- 



24 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

tutions sooner, if we regard the lessons of history, 
than neglect or disregard of this vital Principle 
of the Divine Grovernment ; and here, it seems to 
me, is one of onr greatest dangers, the despotism 
of soulless corporations, the combination of corrupt 
officials, and of men in positions of influence, 
trampling under foot all rights in their mad thirst 
for wealth, corrui)ting the fountains of justice, and 
breaking down every safeguard of the rights of 
the weak and defenseless ; this is sapping the 
ver}^ foundations of our Republic, and introducing 
that worst of all despotisms, the rule of the un- 
principled, the reckless, and the criminal; and 
the only remedy is in the personal character of 
those who fill these offices of trust and responsi- 
bility. 

Among those exalted rights and liberties of 
human nature, prominent and foremost is the 
right of freedom to worship God according to the 
dictates of one's own conscience. 

Who can estimate the cost, in human agony 
and blood, of this inherent right of man ? 

The gist of this matter, as understood by all 
who do sincerely and lionedhj hold to the liberty 
of conscience, is this : that man, as a respon- 
sible being, endowed by his Creator with faculties 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 25 

capable of appreciating and understanding the 
Revelations of Himself and His will, made by 
Grod to His intelligent creatures, is amenable to 
God only, and that, therefore, no man has au- 
thority over the conscience ; that such authority 
belongs only to God, and that man is utterly 
incapable, by reason of his finite powers, of 
exercising such control over his fellow-man. 

This is one grand secret of the success of our 
institutions, and of the development which has 
taken place under them, and is inwrought into 
the whole structure of our Government. 

Every human being is guaranteed this right by 
the whole power of the State, of course not to 
be extended to any one to the prejudice of others. 
If one demands privileges inconsistent with the 
rights of others, such privileges cannot be granted, 
since they conflict with i]iQ equal rights of all. 

Any attempt, openly or secretly, to advance the 
claims of one more than another, or to infringe 
on the equal rights of all, by the power of the 
State, or by political influence, is treasonable and 
subversive of the foundations of our liberties. 
In other words, these different systems are to be 
left to work their way, and exert their influence 
for good or evil, and prove their weakness or 



26 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

their strength, their truth or falsity, by their ben- 
eficial or pernicious effects, according to the test 
given by the Divine Author of Christianity, " By 
their fruits ye shall know them." Thus, also, 
what is valuable in them all can be clearl}' elimi- 
nated from what is worthless and injurious. 
That this is a Principle of the Divine Grovernment 
of the world is clearly seen in all its history. 
By their fruits or results their claims are to be 
tested. Thus, also, the highest possible incentive* 
is given to each to develop itself by the utmost 
activity, and to reform abuses and errors. As to 
the question of education, which looms up as one of 
the grand issues of our day, no man in his right 
senses can deny the obligation of the State, 
for self-preservation against an ignorance which is 
fatal to her existence, to take charge of the edu- 
cation of her youth ; and it is equally evident 
that the State has nothing to do with denomi- 
national education — that is entirely an affair of the 
respective churches. To expect or demand that 
puplic money should be appropriated, by any 
subterfuge, to such a purpose as this, proves 
conclusively that those who entertain such views 
have never comprehended nor imbibed the vital 
Principles of the American Republic. 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 27 

Thus we see the same forces are allowed full 
scope for unlimited development in this country, 
and purposely so, which have already in the past, 
and are to-day, inspiring the most bitter and deso- 
lating conflicts the world has ever seen. No 
words can convey adequate impressions of the 
extreme tortures and agonies for which they are 
responsible in other lands ; but all these can be 
traced to the supremacy of some one in the State. 
To guard against this, is vital in our system. 

Evidently such a Government as this, in which 
all the great energies of the human race are left 
to the fullest possible play and activity consistent 
with the rights of all, demands an intelligence, a 
prudence of administration, and, above all, a high 
moral, public sentiment to control, regulate, and 
inspire all its positions of authority and influence, 
such as calls for the highest possible development 
of manhood in its people. 

Whatever strange mistakes, in carrying out its 
principles in the past, whatever precautions of 
common intelligence have been neglected, and 
however impossible it may be now to remedy or 
correct those mistakes, one duty is plainly before 
us : to see to it that these great masses of people 
be pervaded with those Divine Principles and 



28 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

Truths, which are the salt of the earth, alone able 
to preserve it from corruption, the only leaven 
which is capable of pervading the community 
with elevating and salutary influences. 

We have become so accustomed to the enor- 
mous influx of population which yearly rolls over 
our land, that we fail to comprehend the grandeur 
of the events which are occurring around us, and 
the rapidity with which momentous issues to the 
future welfare of our country are pressing for 
solution. These vast masses of men, out of every 
nation under heaven, and of every stage of 
human development, who are filling up this 
mighty inheritance of ours so rapidly ; these great 
multitudes, with hardly one element in common 
but their human nature, to be made capable of 
self-government, the highest attainment of human 
nature, to be pervaded with these divine Prin- 
ciples, which alone can insure the success of our 
government ; how grand a task, how mighty the 
problem we are called upon to solve. 

Let us glance for a moment at the nature of our 
responsibilities and the true mode of fulfilling 
them. There are two stages in the moral training 
and development of men. 1st, That of obedience 
to law through the appeal to self-interest by 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 29 

rewards and punishments ; this is typified in the 
Old Testament system. 2d, A free self-control 
through the Supreme Groverning Power of Love, 
as in the Gospel. It is in the transition from one 
to the other that the disorders and perplexities 
meet us. 

To those who have been controlled only by the 
restraints of law, and, it may be, crushed by a 
tyranical abuse of power, the transition is 
extreme to the self-imposed restraints of self- 
government and obedience to the claims of the 
law of love, and this is one of the issues we are 
called upon to face. Hundreds of thousands of men, 
trained for generations under arbitrary and 
despotic authority, have been transplanted to our 
soil and admitted to the free enjoyment of all the 
rights and privileges, duties and obligations of 
citizenship without previous preparation. In 
addition to this, we have, all through the Southern 
portion of our country, millions of people, sud- 
denly and without preparation, launched into the 
full enjoyment and responsibility of citizenship. 
No wonder they fall a prey to demagogues ; no 
wonder we are passing through scenes of trouble 
and confusion and perplexity ; that breakers of dis- 
order and demoralization are rolling over us and 



30 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

threatening the integrity of our institutions. We 
have been, and are wading through all the evils of 
this transition period, and an issue is upon us de- 
manding all the resources of an enlightened states- 
manship and a Christian Faith, for we have come in 
contact with evils which threaten the future of 
our country. We seem to be passing through a 
crucial test. In this country and in England we 
find the same grand questions to be met. Is 
policy or right, mere expediency or stern devotion 
to truth to be the standard of public and private ac- 
tion? There is but one answer to this question, the 
answer which human history and the experience 
of all ages has given, conformity to the Principles 
of the Divine Government, — this, the decisive and 
uniform testimony of human experience has 
declared to be the only solid foundation of the 
success and stability of any human Government, 
of the management of human affairs. 

Our Principles, if they are sacredly guarded, 
will insure in the future, as they have in the past, 
material prosperity and wealth ; but wealth can 
never purchase for us our rights and liberties. 
How, then, shall we regard this insane sacrifice of 
all that is sacred and valuable on the altar of gold? 
We claim to have a perfect human Government, 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 31 

the result of near six thousand years of human 
experience — that it alone can secure and preserve 
the highest and best interests of humanity. If an 
elasticity which has endured all sorts of abuses 
and a vitality which has withstood every species 
of maladministration, constitutes and is a test of 
right and sound principles in the foundation of 
Government, then is ours such a Grovernment. 

But, magnificent as is our heritage, perfect as 
is our system, common prudence has been sorely 
lacking in its conduct. We have placed the most 
sacred privilege of the citizen in the hands of men 
utterly incompetent, morally and mentally, for 
its exercise. Votes are deposited by men unable 
to read or write, and consequently ignorant of 
their contents. Money, to purchase votes, de- 
cides questions of the utmost importance to the 
community. Merit and ability are not necessary 
qualifications for office, and faithful service is not 
rewarded. Sinecures command enormous salaries, 
while the masses of toilers who do the work are 
but poorly clad and fed. The material growth and 
prosperity of the country are looked upon as 
spoils to be divided among victorious political 
partizans. Immense sums are expended on the 
building and ornamentation of churches, which 



32 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

the masses of the people never enter, and the 
grand, purifying and elevating influences of the 
Christian faith do not reach hundreds of thousands 
of our race in our own land, to say nothing of the 
rest of the world. Men are entrusted with power 
and placed in positions of authority, to use them 
for the good of the whole community — that power 
is prostituted — that trust dishonored to a selfish, 
personal aggrandizement, to a mean self-seeking, 
which defeats its very object. 

The slavery and abject degradation of humanity, 
inflicted by our present system of politics, by the 
rule of demagogues, bids fair to be worse than 
that of king and aristocracy, against wliich our 
Fathers rebelled and rose in unconquerable 
hostility. 

The lives, and the best interests of the citizens 
have been placed at the mercy of a class of men 
utterly unfitted, morally and intellectually, for so 
sacred a responsibility, whose only idea of a 
position of public trust and authorit}^ is as a 
means of legalized robbery and reckless plunder 
of the public treasury, utterly indifferent to the 
sufl'erings and poverty inevitably caused thereby. 

The war of the Revolution was precipitated by 
acts of injustice and cruelty, of despotic power, 



tHE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 33 

which exceeded the limits of endurance of an 
independent, honorable and high-si)irited people, 
the results of taxation without representation. 
We are now suffering from public evils, almost 
as unendurable, from the opposite cause, repre- 
sentation without taxation, or an utterl}^ irre- 
sponsible and immoral element, which has been 
playing into the hands of demagogues. The 
glory of our system is that the poor and defense- 
less receive equal justice with the wealthy and 
influential ; how far have we drifted from such 
an ideal, when (according to a prominent daily 
journal) 100,000 children, from four years of age 
upwards, are working ten hours daily in this city 
and vicinity, and every effort to ameliorate their 
condition is defeated in our State Legislature by 
the opposition of two or three manufacturers ; 
when, placing money where it will do the most 
good, is the kind of influence relied on to secure 
legislation against the interest, welfare, lives, 
and, worst of all, morals of the people. 

It is not necessary to enlarge on evils so well 
known and so aggravated. The North and South, 
the East and West, are groaning under this 
unnatural and impious yoke of bondage — impious 
because the result of a practical atheism, possible 



34 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

only to those who exclude the Supreme G-overnor 
of the Universe from any participation in human 
affairs, and, consequently, make no account of 
His displeasure or interference. 

We come, in conclusion, to the remedy and 
our obligations and responsibilities, as a Soci- 
ety, in applying that remedy. The strength 
of this Grovernment, and the wonderful elas- 
ticity which excites the astonishment even of 
our own people, is due, I think, to the fact 
already stated, that it is founded upon the same 
Principles which regulate the moral GrOvernment 
of God. Errors, willful or even unintentional, 
ignorance or disregard of truth, are followed by 
their natural consequences of failure and misery. 
Repetition of the fault brings increase of suffer- 
ing, until at last the bitter lesson of experience is 
learned, and a Prosperity founded on Public 
Virtue, which alone can be permanent, is secured. 

That man, when left to his own native impulses 
and inherent tendencies, degenerates into a savage, 
I think the condition of the world to-day fully 
proves — and the degree and character of his 
civilization depends upon the correctness and the 
force of his Traditions of a primitive Revelation. 

Wherever the ancient Jewish People (at that 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATr. 35 

time the sole depositary of the Knowledge and 
Revelation of the Only True God), were brought 
in contact with other nations, either by captivity 
or in the ordinary intercourse of commerce, we 
find a higher civilization developed. 

The noblest elevation and purity of character 
among the ancient G-reeks and Romans is clearly 
to be attributed to the two grand ideas of that 
Revelation— the inspiration of the Spirit of God 
— as expressed in that memorable saying of 
Seneca, "There is a Holy Spirit in us who 
watches and observes both good and evil men, 
and who treats us as we treat him ;" and in that 
equally famous saying of the Roman poet, " Nihil 
Jiumani d me aliemun puto^ 

This same standard will be found to apply to 
every nation of Europe from that day to this. 
Just so far as the religious traditions of the 
people have deviated from 'the standard of Di- 
vine Truth, and the pure and simple, but sublime 
doctrines of the Gospel, to that extent has the 
intellectual, moral, and social status of the people 
been degraded, and tended back to a barbarous 
and savage state. 

We find, also, in our own limited experience as 
a nation, the same fact apparent, and we see, in 



36 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

this universal fact of human history, our danger, 
the only safeguard of our institutions, and our 
duty. 

The vast importance of this lesson of human 
history and experience, in view of the problem 
we have to solve in our day, the transformation 
of these vast multitudes of ignorant and oppressed 
people (often of extreme radical opinions), driven 
from their homes by the evils of bad govern- 
ment, into a united, harmonious, intelligent, self- 
governing people, is our apology for thus dwelling 
upon it. 

We must fall back, in the face of such a gigantic 
problem as this, on a higher than human wisdom, 
on grander principles than those of a mere human 
policy. Exercising, as did our Fathers in their 
struggle, absolute dependence on Divine Wisdom 
and Power, realizing that our Government is the 
last and highest result of Christianity, we must 
address ourselves, each in his peculiar channel of 
influence, to the universal diffusion of that Divine 
remedy for the errors and the selfishness of 
mankind. 

Ours is a nobler than Roman or G-recian civi- 
lization — it is Divine. It teaches us not to despise 
our fellowmen, but to love and pity them in their 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 37 

ignorance, their bigotry, tlieir degradation, their 
abject moral humiliation, and to use the appliances 
which have raised us, and on which we depend, 
to raise them. 

I know of no grander contrast in history 
than that of those old philosophers, the Stoics and 
Epicureans (the grandest outgrowth of which 
heathen civilization was capable) and the igno- 
rant, illiterate fishermen, and the converted 
Pharisee, whom the Son of Grod selected to bear His 
message to men ; and the significance of it is clear, 
that the wisdom and the power and the glory of 
human Redemption is of Grod only. We perceive, 
then, that these interests are to be advanced not 
by external force, but solely by moral and spiritual 
influences, and our aim should be to spread those 
influences by every means and in every position 
in which we may be placed. 

Thus, only, have we any solid moral lever for 
elevating, controlling, preserving ourselves and 
others. To this let all our energies be directed. 
The work we have to perform in our day is fully 
as important and as arduous, as that of our 
Fathers, calling for the same devotion of life and 
property, the same sacrifice of ease and comfort. 
The revolution which is going on in this country 



38 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

and ill England, the crisis through which we are 
passing, is as tremendous in its present effects and 
future consequences, as that in which our Fathers 
were actors ; and we, if we would represent them, 
cannot sit idly as mere spectators, we must 
engage in the conflict intelligently and resolutely. 

This countr}' and its Institutions never were 
intended to serve the low purposes of personal 
aggrandizement. Nor can they be prostituted to 
such uses without the sacrifice of " those exalted 
rights and liberties of humanity, without which 
the rank of a rational being is a curse instead of 
a blessing." 

There has been a criminal neglect hitherto in the 
conservative element of the country. Honest and 
honorable men, not in name but in reality, must 
descend into the arena, great as may be their 
repugnance. Only by sacrificing selfish ease, and 
holding in abeyance refined and cultivated tastes, 
and entering, as our Fathers did, into the valley 
of humiliation and self-sacrifice, can this great 
country be wrested from the hands of self-seeking 
men. Men of honor, and of integrity, must take 
their places, as some noble men have done in our 
State Legislature, from purely patriotic motives, 
among those who are dragging the honor and fair 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 39 

fame of our beloved land in the mire and filth, 
and fight this battle to the bitter end. 

Let us not deem this impracticable, that mere 
politicians, with their crooked ways, will triumph, 
— not if God rules and we put our trust in 
Him. A practical Atheism is at the bottom of all 
these disorders. A moral governor of this world 
must first be banished from all interference in its 
affairs, before men can barter positions of public 
trust for money, and Atheism, like all other 
errors, is weak and can only exist by preying 
upon a prosperity created by truth and faith. We 
are called upon by our Institution to remember, 
that, by the G-race of Gfod we are free and inde- 
pendent ; " that it pleased the Supreme Grov- 
ernor of the Universe, in the disposition of human 
affairs to cause the separation of the colonies of 
North America from the domination of Great 
-Britain," and to find our inspiration and our 
success from the same infallible source. 

" An unalterable determination to promote and 
cherish between the respective States, that union 
and national honor so essentially necessary to 
their happiness and the future dignity of the 
American Empire," is the remaining principle on 
which is founded our obligations and our union. 



40 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

A duty is here prescribed for us, which was so 
ably and forcibly insisted on by the orator of our 
last anniversary, that we are to go out of the 
narrow boundaries of our State lines in our affec- 
tions and in our duties ; that devotion to the 
interests of our whole country, and not of any 
section, alone constitutes us, in any true sense, 
American citizens. I will add, therefore, but one 
thought on this sacred obligation. 

Recent events would make silence on this point 
a crime. What kind of union can that be, which 
is not founded on affection and unselfish regard 
for the interests and well-being of all our people. 
North and South, East and West ? Not to suffer 
in ourselves the evils which afflict anj' of the 
members of this great body, indicates the insen- 
sibility of approaching dissolution, and not the 
absence of vital danger. 

What a spectacle meets us to-day, as we look 
out on our country, in the light of this obligation. 
A letter recently received from the secretary of 
the South Carolina Society, represents, in the 
saddest colors, the gloomy condition of that 
State ; and the daily journals, of all political 
tendencies, present to us such scenes of anarchy 
and social disorganization in the southern por- 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 41 

tions of our country, that indifference to them is 
criminal in the highest degree. Can we conscien- 
tiously say that we have fully realized those 
obligations of brotherly affection which we have 
assumed ? It seems as if a prophetic inspiration 
had foreshadowed to our Fathers these sad expe- 
riences of our day, and had induced them to 
institute this Society, and to incorporate this 
very Principle of union and national honor be- 
tween the respective States, as one of its vital 
Principles, to keep alive that spirit of brotherly 
affection and perpetual friendship which bound 
them together as one man. These desperate evils 
are the natural and necessary fruits of this polit- 
ical prostitution of which we have spoken ; this is 
the giant evil, the prolific source of every moral 
disorder and deformity in our States and in our 
communities, the sure precursor of the death of 
liberty. Against this, which vitiates and nullifies 
every benevolent purpose and wise provision of 
our government, our united efforts are to be 
concentrated. 

Our Fathers have so constituted this Society, 
and Divine Providence has so arranged the 
development of this country, that we are enabled 
to exert a wider and more powerful influence 



42 THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 

in our land than any body of men of equal 
numbers. The President of the United States 
is one of our honorar}^ members. Our Presi- 
dent occupies one of the highest positions of 
extensive influence in the world, and has achieved 
lasting honor for himself, and proved that the 
Principles of this Society exert a living power 
in its members, by establishing arbitration for 
war, in the settlement of national misunder- 
standings, between two of the greatest powers on 
earth. The highest municipal officer in a neigh- 
boring city is also Vice-President of the Society 
of his native State, and, by his noble and manly 
address lately issued, has demonstrated that the 
spirit of our Forefathers is living and vital among 
us, and in active efficiency in political affairs, 
even in this hour of their deepest degradation. 
Our members are scattered, not only over the 
country, but over the world ; some of the highest 
rank in the army and navy, and many others 
occupying positions of high, social, and public 
influence ; and all of them able to produce, if 
united in this matter, an influence which cannot 
be measured. For be it remembered, that the 
grandest results in history have not been pro- 
duced by force of numbers, but, on the contrary, 



THE MISSION OF THE CINCINNATI. 43 

by the few, united and inspired b,y a Divine 
Principle, and that with the truth and the power 
of God on our side, " one may chase a thousand, 
and two put ten thousand to flight." Our strength 
and success will depend, not on superior num- 
bers, but on the extent of our faith in our 
Principles, and in Him on Whom our Fathers 
relied, and to Whom they publicly ascribed the 
glory. 

Let us address ourselves, then, by a closer 
union and co-operation with all the other State 
Societies, to the fulfillment of this great mission. 
May it not be in the design of Providence to 
open the way for this in the approaching Cen- 
tennial ? I 



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